Ascendas plans to acquire 20 acres which would have a built-up space of two million square feet while Unitech has acquired 50 acres for a built-up space of 2.5 million square feet.

IT department sources said, Keppel Land was likely to acquire another 20 acres and build two million square feet.

But, with the deluge of investments is Rajarhat already overheated? Yogesh Verma, chief executive of the DLF Info City Developers (Kolkata), said, Rajarhat would see a huge round of supply over the next one and a half to two years.

This was one of the main reasons why Verma was not expecting appreciation in Rajarhat over the next one year.

"Pricing will be competitive" he said.

Kolkata-based real estate developer, Rahul Saraf echoes Verma's view. According to Saraf, the value proposition of Rajarhat has already been built into the pricing of the project and with the huge volume of construction coming up, Rajarhat would have lost its unique selling proposition.

Saraf believes that if real estate prices in Kolkata appreciate then prices in Rajarhat would go up but the appreciation in Rajarhat would not be higher than the appreciation in the Kolkata market.

Alongside the construction oversupply from the real estate developers, IT companies like Wipro and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) have evinced interest to build their own campuses in Rajarhat.

Wipro and TCS are planning to build campuses spread over 40-50 acres of land.

According to IT department estimates, Kolkata would have 13.3 million square feet of built-up space for the IT and ITES companies over the next 24 months.

Apart from DLF, all the major real estate deals have been struck by the West Bengal Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (Hidco).

All land allotment in Rajarhat would be done by Hidco and it has 7,000 hectares in its kitty to distribute for residential/commercial and industrial use.

The key determining factor in IT expansion plans would be pricing.

Hidco has set an exorbitant price of Rs 2.16 crore per acre, which has become a stumbling block for companies like Wipro and TCS willing to set up campuses.

On the other hand, the real estate developers have paid a huge price for acquiring the land.

Bengal Shrachi currently has lined up five projects in New Town -- three housing, one shopping mall and the other a commercial complex.

Rahul Todi, managing director Bengal Shrachi expects Rajarhat prices to appreciate further to Rs 3-3.5 crore per acre in the course of the next one year and then feels it would stabilise as demand and supply neutralises.

Failing to bring down Hidco prices, the state IT department tried to resolve the situation in its own way. The state Cabinet has approved allotment of 500 acres of land to the IT department.

The location is between Rajarhat and the airport and is scheduled to be completed by 2007.

Rajarhat or not, the general feeling among real estate developers is that real estate market in Kolkata is robust and prices would appreciate by 15 per cent over the next one year across commercial and residential properties.